While the grounds of the South Auvergne Business Park are preparing to see the emergence of the Thébault group factory specializing in laminate, hiring begins.
Since the end of March, the land allocated to the Thébault group, the French leader in plywood, on the South Auvergne Business Park, in Lempdes-sur-Allagnon, has been the subject of an incessant ballet of construction equipment. And the earthworks of the 15 hectares of the project for a vast LVL or laminate production plant (see elsewhere) ends. “There, we attack the installation of the networks,” explains Mathieu Robert, LVL general manager of the Thébault group.
The foundations will be laid during the summer. And at the beginning of August the first posts should be installed. We will try to move forward as quickly as possible to be out of water as quickly as possible. At least on the first building, which will house machines. The last to be built will be the offices, near the RN 102 roundabout.
The idea being that the site, which will have 25,000 m2 covered, will begin operating in the summer of 2025. “We are, with the LVL (laminated wood veneer material, Editor’s note), on a product that takes time to be certified. We will sell some before, but we should obtain CE marking by early 2026. “
Mainly intended for construction (floors, walls, frames, etc.), but which can have other uses (in fire doors, sofas, etc.), LVL (or laminated wood), a laminated wood veneer material, draws its advantage of its lightness and resistance. Born in the United States, it was imported to Europe in the 1980s by Nordic manufacturers.
Present on Friday June 14 at the Cohade business incubator, Mathieu Robert came to launch, alongside officials from the Brivadoise branch of France Travail and elected officials from Sydec Allier Allagnon, creator of the Business Park, the phase of recruitment. “Thébault is the French leader in plywood,” he explained. “When certain companies specialize in sawing, we specialize in peeling (schematically, pass a log through a giant pencil sharpener, to obtain ribbons of wood, Editor’s note). It is a family business with a turnover of €100 million for five production sites, four of which are in France. That of Lempdes-sur-Allagnon will be the sixth. For plywood, we work with three main species: maritime pine, okoumé (a species from Gabon) and poplar.”
With this Auvergne unit, we will work on silver fir. Thébault has mastered unrolling for 70 years. And when you make plywood, the logical next step is LVL or laminate.
A job dating at the end of June for around ten positions
The first building to come out of the ground will be the one called to contain the unwinder. “The first machines arrive in October.” On this date, the company will therefore need its future maintenance team. Hence the launch, this June, of the first phase of recruitment, for around ten positions out of the 85 expected. “It targets specific profiles in industrial maintenance: team leader, mechanic, automation technician and electromechanic,” explains Elisabett Da Silva, business advisor at France Travail Brioude. Several offers are already online. Candidates can apply on our site, send an email or go to the agency. “All will then be rerouted to a job dating scheduled for June 28 (afternoon) and 29 (morning) at the town hall of Lempdes-sur-Allagnon.
premium The Thebault group, leader in plywood, will create around a hundred jobs in Haute-Loire
“There will be a first part dedicated to the presentation of the company and the professions,” explains Christelle Tixidre, team manager at France Travail Brioude. “Then a recruitment interview part.”
This job dating is also open to people not registered with France Travail. But participation is by registration.
Start of operation planned for summer 2025
Other waves of hiring will follow. “In the summer, we will start recruiting forklift operators. We will need them this fall to install the machines. Then, in the spring of 2025, there will be another wave. Our objective is to run the unwinder at summer 2025. And we want to hire people from here, insists Mathieu Robert. We are working on the training project before hiring for the people who will be in production. high schools… The bulk of our workforce will be for production (line operator, line driver, etc.) And we will also have people in charge of administration and sales.
An investment of €100 million
“There are only five LVL production sites in Europe. Lempdes-sur-Allagnon will host the first in France and Western Europe, explains Mathieu Robert. And the reason for this establishment is the large resource of silver fir available nearby A species little appreciated by sawyers, because it is difficult to dry, it is 3 mm thick, so drying is no longer a problem. allows us to reaffirm our desire to have wood of French origin. “The factory” will have a production capacity of 70,000 m3 of laminate, while the French market is 15,000 to 20,000 m3. interest of this €100 million investment in Lempdes-sur-Allagnon: “It will be a logistics hub with perfect reach”, for an international company.
Pierre Hébrard
